Today Bubba and Tracy left for the Firenze airport fairly early considering their flight to Stuttgart wasn't leaving until 1pm. They were renting a car in Stuttgart and then driving to Baden-Baden to stay overnight to enjoy the baths and casinos. Lori, Steve, Connie and I were up at our usual time and, after a bit of lounging around, started our drive to Pisa to see some sights. We passed through the north end of Firenze where we were entertained by the car and moped drivers pretty much driving wherever they wanted. The lines on the road were obviously put there to provide some sort of guidance but we weren’t sure what that was. Once out of the city area we took a fairly direct route but stayed off the Autostrada so we could see more of the region, which only added a half hour to the normal one hour trip.
Once in Pisa we were careful to stay out of the ZTL zones, which hopefully we did
. We drove for a while always within sight of the leaning tower, which was getting slowly closer as we wound our way around the city. Finally we were able to find parking very close to the Piazza del Duomo or Piazza dei Miracoli, site of the leaning tower. We hadn’t eaten a big breakfast so we stopped at a pizzeria just across from the parking area for a bite. The food was quite good and the beer was as well. After we ate we made our way into Piazza through the gate of the wall that surrounds part of it. The Piazza is home to the Leaning Tower as well as the baptistery, the cathedral and the cemetery. Baptisteries are tall round dome-top buildings usually situated in front of cathedrals, which are found throughout Italy and where obviously the baptisms take place. This particular one is the largest in Italy. The buildings here are an architectural disaster, mostly due to the unstable ground that they were built upon. The Leaning Tower is only one example of this as the cathedral itself has walls that slope awkwardly from front to rear
. Even the top of the baptistery looks like it was designed by two different people with red tiles on one side and lead slabs on the other. That said all of these structures were magnificent in their splendor of marble and carvings. We spent an hour or so wandering around and then went out through the same gate as we entered. Outside the walls of the Piazza lies a marketplace of every junk touristy item one could think of, from coffee cups to keychains and beyond. Of course, we had to go through there so that Connie could find a spoon for her collection.
We made our way to the car and set off for our return route to the villa. We took a different way back, crossing over and through the small mountain range just to the north of Pisa to the town of Lucca, which we were told was a nicer visit than Pisa as with the exception of the Piazza del Duomo, there isn’t much to see in that mostly industrial city. Unfortunately we didn’t stop in Lucca to visit because of time, but it looked to be a magnificent town with a massive wall, embattlements and moat area completely surrounding the old part of the town
. It certainly seemed to be worth a return trip if we ever came back. We did stop long enough for me to jump out of the car and take some pictures of the walls around the old city, then we continued our way turning eastward toward Florence along the south edge of the mountain range that defines the northern border of Tuscany, every now and again having to climb up and over edges of the foot lands. At one point the road climbed to a high gap between two hills and on one of these hills we was perched a castle and very small village called Serravalle Pistoiese. We took a very small winding road off the main roadway to the village and parked the car so we could take a walk around. What a fantastic little find. What’s left of the castle, which served as a fortress of military defence, shows how fortifications were reviewed and altered constantly during medieval times. Each of the three towers still standing are different in their shape and design, build to withstand changing weapons and tactics as time went on from the 12th through to the 14th century. We didn’t wander the town much as it was getting late, but it looked to be pretty cool as well, especially from the vantage point at the top of one of the towers that Steve and I climbed to. Each of these new finds adding to the feeling that after a week we were merely scratching the surface of this magnificent region of Italy.
Making our way further east we came south a bit, away from the hills, and into the flatlands between Pistoia and Firenze where we passed through the town of Prato and an area of nurseries and landscaping companies
. Along either side of the road nurseries stretched on for at least 20km with a huge array of unique shrubs and trees.
Finally we were back in Firenze…just in time for rush hour. The traffic was even more hectic and unforgiving as when we left and one could not help to drive the same way as everyone else just to get through it all. This of course didn’t make Lori or Connie very happy. Nonetheless, Steve managed to get us through unscathed and before long we were back in Pontassieve where we stopped at our usual grocery for a few items to add to the leftovers that had accumulated over the last few days so we could make a meal out of it all. We ended up having quite a feast of steak, sausages, pasta, meats, cheeses, gnocchi and even some salad. After that it was time to pack our bags and be ready for check out time the next morning. Of course, during dinner and afterwards, Steve and I had to also clear out some of the leftovers of Spritz, beer and limoncello. As the evenings had gotten quite cool now, we spent our evening indoors relaxing in the living room and catching up on reading and blogging.
To Pisa and beyond!
Friday, September 25, 2015
Pisa, Tuscany, Italy
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